RABIES

Course overview

RABIES CAUSES A VIRAL ENCEPHALITIS WHICH KILLS UP TO 70000 PEOPLE/YEAR WORLDWIDE. INFECTED ANIMAL SALIVA TRANSMITS THE VIRAL ENCEPHALITIS TO HUMANS. RABIES IS ONE OF THE OLDEST KNOWN DISEASES IN HISTORY WITH CASES DATING BACK TO 4000 YEARS AGO. FOR MOST OF HUMAN HISTORY, A BITE FROM A RABID ANIMAL WAS UNIFORMLY FATAL. IN THE PAST, PEOPLE WERE SO SCARED OF RABIES THAT AFTER BEING BITTEN BY A POTENTIALLY RABID ANIMAL, MANY WOULD COMMIT SUICIDE. THIS ACTIVITY DESCRIBES THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF RABIES AND STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF A INTERPROFESSIONAL TEAM IN ITS MANAGEMENT.